We need prevention, learning and long-term structural change to achieve justice for Grenfell victims

5 September 2024, 16:19 | Updated: 5 September 2024, 17:42

As we reflect on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, the deaths of 18 children and 54 adults and the lasting effect of the devastation should be at the forefront of our minds.

We recognise the retraumatising effect that the protracted inquiry process has on bereaved families, survivors and the wider Grenfell community.

The fire was forewarned and entirely avoidable.

Discrimination on the basis of race and disability, and attitudes towards people living in social housing meant that residents’ repeated safety concerns and fears were dismissed.

They were abandoned before, during and after the fire by those responsible for keeping them safe.

This report is a devastating indictment of the impact of deregulation and valuing profit above lives.

Those responsible need to be held to account and the scale of failures identified cannot be ignored by state and corporate bodies.

The inquiry exposed systemic failures, a shameful lack of candour and a ‘merry-go-round of buck passing’, highlighting the culture of denial and defensiveness seen from the rollcall of scandals including Hillsborough, Infected Blood and the Post Office.

The government must set up a National Oversight Mechanism to ensure there is transparency and responsibility for implementing life-saving recommendations from inquests and inquiries.

Without proper oversight recommendations can disappear into the ether.

The coroner’s recommendations made following the 2009 Lakanal House fire were treated with contempt by those with the power to act.

Had they been implemented, the Grenfell fire may not have happened.

Read more: Grenfell Tower: Minute by minute of how the tragedy unfolded

Read more: Housing minister admits progress on fixing cladding is 'glacial', seven years after Grenfell tragedy

It is vital and in the public interest to have a mechanism that rigorously monitors and reports on progress beyond inquests and inquiries.

While we welcome the Government’s announcement for Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan proposals, we cannot ignore the almost five years it has taken to act.

The persistent failure to prioritise protecting lives is illustrated by the multiple tower block fires in the past two weeks alone and the reporting of over 4,600 homes still wrapped in unsafe cladding in the UK.

A legacy for the loved ones of those killed in the Grenfell fire would be the knowledge that no-one else is living in unsafe homes.

It should not be left to bereaved people and survivors to drive that change.

Justice will not be achieved by this report alone, and if we are truly to see long-term structural change we need prevention, learning and long-term structural change. This is the very least this community deserves.

Deborah Coles and Aniesha Obuobie are Executive Director and Grenfell Project Co-ordinator respectively of Inquest. Inquest is a charity providing expertise on state related deaths and their investigation to bereaved people, lawyers, advice and support agencies, the media and parliamentarians.